Callum Jones

Northampton headteacher says burglar has taken away her sense of security

Burglary took place overnight in July last year while family slept

Negus, who wore t-shirt with the words ‘Natural Born Player’, locked up for two years

A burglar who stole a £12,000 Nissan Qashqai from the home of a headteacher in Northampton has been locked up for two years.

Stephen Negus, aged 20, broke into the primary school headteacher’s house in Kingsthorpe, where she lives with her fiance and baby daughter, while the family slept on July 4 last year.

Nobody has a right to violate a home in this manner

Northampton Crown Court heard Negus, who had burgled another house on the same street in 2013, gained entry to the property via a small downstairs window.

Mark Van Der Swart, prosecuting, said the family woke up to find the Nissan Qashqai had been stolen as well as a laptop and a wallet.

Negus, who worn a t-shirt with the words ‘Natural Born Player’ to the sentencing hearing, was arrested by police two days later.

He admitted the burglary and theft of the car in interview and pleaded guilty to the charges at a plea and case management hearing last November.

A victim personal impact statement from the headteacher, who did not wish to be named, revealed she no longer felt safe and secure at home.

The statement read: “Home is a place where you should feel safe and secure. The perpetrator has taken that sense of safety and security away from us.

“Nobody has a right to violate a home in this manner. It has caused us a great deal of stress and inconvenience. Our insurance premiums are now higher as we have lost our no claims bonus.”

Judge Lynn Tayton sentenced Negus, of Oakley Street, Northampton, to two years in custody for burglary and 12 months for the theft of the Nissan Quashqai. These sentences will be served concurrently so Negus will serve 12 months of his sentence before being released on licence for the second year.